Alzheimer’s disease could be diagnosed a decade earlier following the launch of the world’s largest study of proteins in the body.
Researchers believe a simple blood test could flag people who are in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, as well as spotting cancer seven years before it would otherwise be diagnosed.
This ‘new era of possibilities’ is within reach, experts say, because it is possible for the first time to quickly and cheaply analyse thousands of proteins in the body which change when we get ill.
Scientists are set to start investigating the proteins of half a million volunteers from the massive UK Biobank health study, which follows people from middle-age to old age.
Professor Sir Rory Collins, who is leading the study and is chief executive of UK Biobank, said: ‘Proteins show us what is happening in the body for every single disease people get.
‘For example, if we can identify people at high risk of heart attacks and strokes, based on proteins in their body, doctors can put them on statins at a young age – not in their fifties and sixties as happens now – so the drugs can hopefully prevent them having a heart attack or stroke.
‘If proteins can tell us who is at a high risk of breast cancer or bowel cancer, they could be offered mammograms or bowel checks at a younger age so any cancer is caught early.
‘Importantly, a blood test for proteins can also find dementia, cancer and other diseases at an early stage, and lead to better drugs to treat them.’
Alzheimer’s disease could be diagnosed a decade earlier following the launch of the world’s largest study of proteins in the body (stock photo)
Researchers believe a simple blood test could flag people who are in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, as well as spotting cancer seven years before it would otherwise be diagnosed (stock photo)
A study of more than 52,000 UK Biobank volunteers last year found two proteins in the blood which flag up early signs of dementia a decade before people are diagnosed.
People in the UK Biobank study have blood taken every few years and all their illnesses are recorded.
More than 100 of these volunteers who got cancer had shown signs of the disease more than seven years earlier in their blood, analysis led by the University of Oxford reported last year.
That suggests looking at people’s proteins could catch cancer seven years earlier.
Now the world’s largest study of proteins is being launched, new insights are expected for many more diseases, including less common cancers.
Proteins will also play a major role in understanding illnesses better.
Early findings suggest type 2 diabetes is not really one illness for everybody – some people might have more inflammation in their body, and some are worse at regulating their blood sugar, and so people may benefit from different drugs targeting exactly what has gone wrong in their body.
Proteins also illustrate there are several types of depression, which need different treatment.
The huge database of people and their proteins could also show how much our genes, and how much our unhealthy lifestyles, contribute to various illnesses which strike in later life.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia. The disease can cause anxiety, confusion and short-term memory loss
If proteins linked to a type of cancer change more in people with a particular diet, for example, compared to those with a genetic risk, that shows what we eat is very important in causing that cancer.
Experts hope the new study will lead to drugs which target and reduce harmful proteins, keeping people well for longer.
Science Minister Lord Patrick Vallance said: ‘UK Biobank is an extraordinary resource for medical research and has already had a big impact on diagnosis and treatments.
‘The plan to study proteins in participants across the study has the potential to unlock a new era of possibilities.’
The study will measure up to 5,400 proteins in each person, starting with a quarter of a million blood samples from UK Biobank volunteers – and 50,000 from some of the volunteers who provided another blood sample 10 to 15 years later.
That will show how proteins change as people get older and are more likely to become ill.
Researchers say proteins can provide early warning for 90 per cent of diseases investigated so far which is better than existing methods.
Proteins will speed up the development of drugs for breast cancer, cardiovascular disease and Parkinson’s disease, based on early findings, and 14 leading pharmaceutical companies are supporting the new study.
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